A woman who spotted a van driver viewing porn as he sped along the A38 at more than 70mph said she is dismayed police have not traced him.

The woman – who has asked not to be named – said she was travelling along the A38 on Tuesday afternoon when she encountered the vehicle and driver.

She revealed that due to the nature of her job – which she has asked The Herald not to reveal – she has travelled the route from Plymouth to Exeter and back up to four times a day for more than a decade.

She said she effectively car shares and is only ever the passenger so is able to observe the road and other drivers in complete safety.

She said: “The driver of my vehicle first noticed this man.

“He turned to me and said: ‘that guy is watching porn’.

“I thought he was joking, so he pulled into the middle lane and slowed down so we were alongside this guy.

The driver with a penchant for fast porn was first spotted at the Lee Mill stretch of the A38

“He was in a lorry, with ‘U-Drive’ branded on the side. It was one of those square ones.

“As the driver came up, slowing to where out car was, I spotted his phone in a cradle, mounted above his steering wheel.

“It was sideways, and I could see on the screen a couple having sex. It was a video.

“I just couldn’t believe it.

“I phoned 999 and spoke to the call handler. I even gave the female call handler the full registration [which began HD66] and the branding on the side. It looked like it was dispatch or rental vehicle.

Read More

“As I was talking to her we passed a layby and the Hunting Lodge public house, so we’d just gone through Lee Mill.

“The driver zoomed off. Now we were doing 70mph because my driver always sticks to the limit, so this guy must’ve been doing 80mph or more.

“A short while later we saw a marked police car and an unmarked police car in a layby on the Exeter-bound stretch.

“This was about 3.50pm and later, just before Ashburton, we saw the same lorry in a layby.”

Sgt Harry Tangye (Image: Twitter)

Response officer Sgt Harry Tangye alerted the public to the grot-loving driver in a tweet at 3.53pm on Tuesday, saying: “If you are the guy watching porn whilst driving his Transit van on the A38, we are waiting for you!”

However, he later revealed to his expectant followers: “Love to say there was a happy Ending but unfortunately he must have turned off prematurely.”

The less-than-happy ending did not amuse the witness who has now told The Herald: “When I got home my daughter told me the story was on Facebook and I saw the comments and the police sergeant saying they didn’t catch him as he’d probably gone up a slip road.

Read More

“What bothers me is the call handler said they dispatched several cars along the A38, I gave a good description and number plate and they still didn’t catch him.

“Travelling this route so much I see people on their phones too often. I don’t really like going on the A38 as there’s always some idiot drivers doing something stupid and dangerous. As you get to Exeter you see them with their phones still stuck to their ears and I think ‘Really? Don’t you ever learn?

“To be honest I didn’t look at this man’s face because I was so shocked at what he was watching.

“The driver and I spoke about it and we both agreed, if you want to do something like that don’t do it while you’re driving, do it at home.

“You wonder if he’s doing that in the lorry, what else is he doing?

“What bothers me is what if he lost control while driving – or got excited?

“He could’ve crashed into us or any other vehicle. You see it all the time on the A38, people not concentrating and drifting from lane to lane.

“Hopefully the police will track him down and have words with him.”

Read More

The report comes just a week after shocking footage was released by Highways England showing a trucker with his right foot on his dashboard checking his mobile phone while driving down a busy motorway.

Another driver, pulled over by Devon and Cornwall Police was found to have sent 10 replies to 10 texts within one hour.

Latest statistics show that mobile phone use is a factor in an average of two deaths on the roads every month, with 123 people losing their lives over the past five years.